Don’t wait until one of your favourite tops / belts or expensive gadgets / ear phones are munched up by these munchkins. Making your home ratproof only means getting organised and keeping things neat, so take this as a motivation to get your life in order:

– Seal all potential holes

Ratties are explorers. If you let them free-roam, ensure they cannot possibly escape by checking for and sealing any openings in your home. Remember, if their head can fit through, the hole is big enough for the whole rattie to get through.

– Pack your things away

Get rid of all that clutter. Don’t bother putting it ‘out of reach’ – this concept doesn’t exist in rat world, rats can get anywhere they want, and that’s mostly because they’re so darn stubborn about it! I’ve witnessed rats walk up walls, jump up furniture and pull themselves up with just their upper body strength. They’re amazing acrobats and fun to watch in their adventures.

– Protect your plants

Rats burrow. If you don’t want your plants to be dug out or tunnelled under, place heavy – and I mean heavy – stones on top of your pot plants’ soil. I’ve caught pet rats work in teamwork to remove rocks from my large palm tree pot…

– Organise your cables

Rats love to chew cables, especially when electricity runs through them. I once saw a pet rat electrically charged after she bit through the stereo cable and caused the fuse to blow. She was fine and I suspect she liked it… that tingly feeling on their teeth… Wire your cables through a cable tube or wrap them in a cable zipper.

– Don’t leave food around

Rats are scavengers and will steal your food or anything edible. They won’t necessarily eat it though, but hoard it, and possibly somewhere unreachable. As rats are extremely picky with their food, chances are you end up with it going off somewhere unknown. Always feed your pet rats in their cage, so if they do steal food, they’ll bring it there.

– Clean up after yourself

Rats are not dirty: They groom themselves more often than cats and are naturally housetrained. It is us humans who leave dirt behind that attracts rats in the first place. Don’t blame rats for your bad habits. Clean up right away, so it’s out of the way.

– Prevention is always best

All these simple means are not only keeping your pet rats at bay, but also prevent wild rats from bothering you. Once you have a rat problem, it’s very difficult to get rid of them: Poison is not only inefficient and cruel, it is also likely to kill more wildlife than actual rats.